1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to television and in particular to television audio signals. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to an improved method and system for automatic announcer voice removal from a televised sporting event.
2. Description of the Related Art
Televised sporting events include an audio signal, which in turn typically includes live action sounds (e.g., crowd noise and sounds from the game) and announcer commentary. An announcer's voice and/or comments may be distracting to some members of a television audience. Consequently, television viewers may wish to listen only to the crowd noise and sounds of a game while not hearing the announcer commentary.
Conventional methods of removing announcer commentary from televised sporting events include separating the audio signal into different components (e.g., voice and remaining audio), transmitting the audio components separately, and subsequently recombining the audio components at the viewing location based on the preferences of the viewer. Other methods of removing announcer commentary include relying upon the center channel of a surround sound mixed recording to include only the voice component of an audio signal and selectively filtering the center channel using inverse phase attenuation. Conventional methods of removing announcer commentary thus require specialized recording methods and/or the separate transmittal of audio data components.